April 22, 2010

Pop-Up Round Up

A huge, HUGE thank you to everyone who came out to Pop-Up magazine #3 last Friday. It was so great to see so many of you there, and we hope you had as much fun experiencing Pop-Up as we had putting it together. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We purposely don't record Pop-Up. We like to keep in spontaneous and intimate. So for those of you who couldn't make it, here's a super quick play-by-play:

-Laura Brunow Miner from Pictory kicked things off with a special collection of funny, moving, and mischievous pictures on the theme, "Sorry, Mom."

-Author and chef Bryant Terry demoed a custom cocktail using ginger-infused vodka, and meyer lemons from his community garden which he christened the Cleanse-tini (hilarious AND delicious!). SKYY Spirits was kind enough to donate the vodka, which meant everyone at the afterparty got to enjoy his tasty creation as well.

-Artist Allison Smith told the crazy and scary and beautiful story of Trench Art.

-Writer, and (obviously insane) adventurer Josh Harkinson took us on an eye-opening, gag-inducing canoe trip down the horribly, horribly polluted Houston Shipping Canal.

- Jennifer Kahn shared the story of her notoriously lazy 80+ year old father's unlikely successes in the world of professional weight-lifting. Impossible to really describe this one. Let's just say the audience laughed, and cried, and gave Jennifer and her dad a standing ovation.

-Acclaimed author Rebecca Solnit used a beautifully detailed map to trace the historic and creative convergences of two men who helped make San Francisco famous and great: Alfred Hitchcock and Eadward Muybridge.

-Here we snuck in an unforgettable tribute to legendary photographer Jim Marshall by Zana Woods and photographer Michael Jang. Jim was scheduled to appear for an onstage Q&A with Zana, but sadly passed away a few weeks ago.

-LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne made a compelling case for Dubai (with its crazy buildings, and unique blend of the world cultures and politics) being the best, and perhaps last place to successfully carry out an assassination.

-Writer Jon Mooallem charmed everyone with a story about luck, miracles, serendipity, patience, wallets lost and wallets found.

-Filmmaker Jamie Meltzer created a beautiful short film about Sign Spinners, that was accompanied by a live soundtrack from these guys.

-Writer Elizabeth Weil thrilled and disgusted the audience with her hilarious and extremely convincing argument against French kissing.

-Inspired by Jamie's film, we had a brief ad for another sponsor BrewDog, which featured a rockin' Sign Spinner doing his thing live on-stage.

-Academy Award-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman treated us to an exclusive clip of their upcoming film HOWL, starring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg.

- Radio Diaries creator Joe Richman and Bridgette McGee-Robinson shared a moving and maddening story about Bridgette's grandfather who was executed by a traveling electric chair for a crime he may, or may not have committed.

-Artist Tracey Snelling created a video tour of Bordertown, her multimedia installation which features meticulous miniature versions of often ignored and out of the way places.

-What magazine is complete without a lively Q&A? This time we had the always captivating Lisa Margonelli in discussion with the Douglas Long, the fascinating Chief Curator of Natural Sciences at the Oakland Museum. You'd be amazed how much you can learn about Turkey Vultures in such a short amount of time.

-Finally, we closed with a wonderful piece by NPR correspondent Alex Cohen about the mysterious disappearance of Bobbie Gentry during the height of her career as one of the most popular and respected recording artists of the 1970s.

And then there was the After Party!!! Which to tell you the truth is a bit of a blur. (Having so many generous sponsors can be dangerous!!) But no one could possibly forget the amazingly delicious food from Bento 415, and the ridiculously tasty treats from Pinkie's Bakery. Yum!! And of course it isn't a party without music, and we were thrilled to have DJs M&S Treatzone spinning great tunes.